Fri 15 November 2019:
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh’s government has passed a law setting the minimum age for matrimony at 18 for both genders in an effort to reduce rates of early marriage.
“The new law is meant to protect Palestinian families and ensure the advancement of Palestinian women,” the government stated when it announced the coming law on July 27.
Exceptional cases will be determined by the chief justice.
According to statistics published by the Women’s Affairs Center in Gaza City, 37% of married Palestinian females wed when they were under the age of 18, including 5% who married before the age of 15. 63% of young married women suffer violence at the hands of their husband, and 95% will not recommend early marriage for their daughters.
Child marriage is thought to contribute to the high rate of divorce in the Palestinian territories.
Until now, the minimum age for marriage in the West Bank has been 15 for females and 16 for males, while in the Gaza Strip it has been 17 for females and 18 for males. Judges had the power to decide otherwise in certain cases – for example, if the girl was mature and her father approved.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 67% of women who divorced in the Palestinian territories in 2018 were aged 18 to 29, versus 55% for men.
Each week, thousands of Palestinian women and girls gather in the West Bank and elsewhere, demanding an end to physical, psychological, sexual and economic violence against women, and seeking a family protection law. As a result of the demonstrations, the PA’s Women’s Affairs Ministry said the government would enact a family protection law by the end of this year.
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